Archived updates for Monday, August 15, 2005

Ross Perot a Patent Troll?

According to an August 9, 2005 article from Forbes, "Billionaire Ross Perot is the principal investor in a $200 million private equity fund set up to buy companies with undervalued patent portfolios--the first time that a private equity fund has been established solely to invest in intellectual property. . . . Another player betting on patents is former Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Nathan Myhrvold. His company, Seattle-based Intellectual Ventures, behaves more like a patent factory, however, employing inventors and patent lawyers to develop and patent valuable new ideas. "

1 Comments:

Ross Perot was a supporter of the independent inventor community during the last so called patent reform attempt. Companies who have rather long histories of stealing others intellectual property are a tad put out when someone like Perot has the nerve to actually buy rights to a patent that those companies refused to license even as they were infringing. I for one am thankful that someone like Perot allows those inventors to see some measure of justice. It is poetic that someone with the financial resources preys on the predators who stole the inventor's property!